They Will Kill You

A lot of action movies work better the simpler the script gets. {They Will Kill You} is a great example of "less is more": the script is extremely simple, and wastes very little time in getting the plot moving; there's little to no filler in the tight 94 minutes it lasts, with most of the scenes being fights. And it's a blast from start-to-finish, one of the freshest and violently fun action and horror movies I have seen in recent years.

I have to admit I was a little sceptical. The premise of a young woman fighting for survival in an enclosed space against a group of rich people murdering poor people for fun or satanic rituals is a bit tired. It also gets, at least for my taste, a little frivolous seeing so many movies toying with that concept when we know that the real wealthy people from our very real world were doing other kinds of atrocities on a certain island for decades, and nobody seemed to care then, nor seem to care now. Of course, that's not a fault of the movie...

Coincidentally, {They Will Kill You} releases at the same time as another strangely similar movie, the sequel {Ready or Not: Here I Come}, but this one, from Russian director Kirill Sokolov, stands out on its own as arguably more original and stylistic. The Muschietti brothers did well in noticing Sokolov's talent, and {They Will Kill You} has everything it needs to become a cult classic in the future.

Perhaps one of the reasons I liked this movie so much is how well it blends into the video game language. I had so much fun thinking on how closely it resembles a Metroidvania: the main character Asia Reeves, played by an excellent Zazie Beetz, enters a high-rise building in New York trying to rescue her sister. There, literally everyone tries to murder her, but Asia has impressive fighting skills and a few weapons she gains along her adventure, going up and down the different floors of the building and fighting hordes of enemies.

There's literally a part where she cannot fight with the enemies in one room until she "finds" a new weapon, returns, and then kills them all: I won't spoil which weapon or why she needed that weapon, but I admit that, and other moments, made me giggle in my seat in a way few recent movies have managed to do. And the action is fabulous, too, with incredible but not unrealistic choreography and tons of creativity in how people are brutally dismembered, crushed, or burnt.

The pacing of the movie is relentless and cuts down the time for exposition, flashbacks, and overall explanation of the plot so that the movie doesn't lose rhythm. One of the few flaws of this decision is that the side characters (all the "mini-bosses" of the building) don't have too much to do and the finale feels a bit too rushed. The reality is that you're likely to be left wanting more, as it happens with short video games that end when you're having so much fun.

I watched {They Will Kill You} and {Ready or Not: Here I Come} back-to-back, and it's shocking how similar both movies are: their plots are almost identical, two sisters trying to reconnect while being chased by rich people wanting to sacrifice them. It's a bit unfair to compare them directly, but while the sequel to Ready or Not felt largely uninspired, unfunny, repetitive, too long, and almost boring at times in my eyes, {They Will Kill You} was a tour de force from start-to-finish.

Some of the most brutal and violent fights I've seen recently, a pair of likeable protagonists, some very stylistic but not too obtrusive visual choices, a hefty dose of black humour, making for a great, short but intense, ride that leaves you wanting more. And one of the purest "Metroidvania-like" movies since Die Hard. It's such a good time.